being a blood donor

[MsPharaohMoan]

Does being a blood donor affect your hair growth/quality? I know hair is a great way of looking at past health (assuming new hairs are growing after a few months rest).

[Seeshami]

..... honestly I am pretty sure no. My grandma has donated gallons (she has a bunch of pins and crap about it) in her life time and her hair from as far back as I can remember till now has only changed from dyed red to her natural white.

[truepeacenik]

Well, under the theory that hair is the first to go in illness, which is logical for a survival standpoint, donating say, monthly might have a slight impact.

However, my kid does plasma donation, which means red blood cells are returned, and Kiddo's hair is abundant and healthy despite a care routine of "Wash when smelly. Condition. Ignore."

I seriously doubt that a healthy donor would see any impact.

[pailin]

The main issue I think would be nutritional status, particularly iron. I doubt it would have any effect unless you were already not in good health (ie anemic), in which case they aren't going to let you donate anyway.

[morrigan*]

I usually donate twice a year, you don't get any money here so it purely about helping people. It's great to see if i'm healthy. But i didn't donate last year as it was a bit stressful year for me, so didn't go, but will probably go again in december.

[Merlin]

In the UK it's twice a year (I think 3 if you've got something rare), you don't get paid here either and they're really fussy about who they take. I used to give regularly and then we went to Morocco where I got food poisoning (don't most people), I was due to give a month or so later and they said I'd better leave it a year just in case I'd got something else...then they began to be concerned because as I pretty much always have a blocked nose I might not realize if I had a cold so they wouldn't take just in case...in the end I gave up trying!

Mrs M has donated twice a year for well over a quarter of a century (apart from the years she was pregnant or breast feeding)....she has awesome hair :-)

[Lisa Long4Life]

In the UK it's 4 times a year for men and 3 times a year (every 16 weeks) for women. You can also donate platelets only and that means they need you more regularly. I was asked about donating platelets last time but my veins aren't sturdy enough. The nurses have to dig around to find them and I'm a bit awkward :p I've been donating since I was 17, though I had a lapse of between 5 and 10 years though up until 2 years ago.
I haven't noticed a difference to my hair. :)

[YvetteVarie]

I used to donate twice a year in high school. My hair was healthy enough then. Very thick and no sheds. The only hair issues I had were just from neglect

[Anje]

I used to do whole blood every 2 months and never noticed a problem. (I suppose I should see if I'm still disqualified. Rules have changed, I think.) But I've never had issues with anemia either. If you're more borderline, I can see it being an issue.

[Saldana]

In an otherwise healthy person, it should not have any significant impact.

[truepeacenik]

In the UK it's twice a year (I think 3 if you've got something rare), you don't get paid here either and they're really fussy about who they take. I used to give regularly and then we went to Morocco where I got food poisoning (don't most people), I was due to give a month or so later and they said I'd better leave it a year just in case I'd got something else...then they began to be concerned because as I pretty much always have a blocked nose I might not realize if I had a cold so they wouldn't take just in case...in the end I gave up trying!

Mrs M has donated twice a year for well over a quarter of a century (apart from the years she was pregnant or breast feeding)....she has awesome hair :-)


In the UK it's 4 times a year for men and 3 times a year (every 16 weeks) for women. You can also donate platelets only and that means they need you more regularly. I was asked about donating platelets last time but my veins aren't sturdy enough. The nurses have to dig around to find them and I'm a bit awkward :p I've been donating since I was 17, though I had a lapse of between 5 and 10 years though up until 2 years ago.
I haven't noticed a difference to my hair. :)


And yet, I cannot donate whole blood because I lived in the UK in a specific time.

[Lisa Long4Life]

And yet, I cannot donate whole blood because I lived in the UK in a specific time.

during the time when there was a worry about CJD/Mad Cow Disease? :confused:

[AZDesertRose]

I'm in the USA, and I donate somewhat irregularly, mostly every 10 weeks or so, and I've never noticed any effect on my hair.

[jeanniet]

Nope. I did whole blood donations every 8 weeks (the minimum time limit in the US) for four years, and then did apheresis (platelet) donations twice a month for about another four years. Never had any hair issues at all. They don't let you donate unless you're in pretty good health, and their hematocrit requirements are above anemia levels--a lot of people think if you get rejected for low iron you're anemic, but that's not actually true. It just means your iron levels don't meet their requirements.

[MsPharaohMoan]

Okay this is all good to hear. Trying to think of more good deeds to perform but wasn't sure if anyone had noticed changes from blood donations.

[Merlin]

during the time when there was a worry about CJD/Mad Cow Disease? :confused:

I remember a while when they were so paranoid about HIV that it seemed that if you could find 'africa, south of the sahara' in an atlas they wouldn't take you... :-P

[Angela_Rose]

I've been a whole blood and platelet donor for years and years and years, and my hair doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effect.

[Harriet]

I used to give blood every 16 weeks, but became quite iron deficient (not to the point of anaemia but I had very low ferritin) so I've had to stop for the time being. I was really tired all the time and felt like my head was full of cotton wool. I started taking floradix (a herbal iron supplement) and this is now much better but my ferritin is only rising very slowly. I've been vegetarian for over ten years, and obviously didn't have the iron stores to cope with regular donation. I hope to get my iron stores back up so that I can donate again but it won't be for quite a while. As for my hair, it is thinner than it was before I started donating, but I can't say whether that is due to my low iron or not.

[Anje]

They don't let you donate unless you're in pretty good health, and their hematocrit requirements are above anemia levels--a lot of people think if you get rejected for low iron you're anemic, but that's not actually true. It just means your iron levels don't meet their requirements.

My blood always sank like a rock in those tests. I keep thinking maybe I should get checked for hemochromatosis, given family history.

[jeanniet]

My blood always sank like a rock in those tests. I keep thinking maybe I should get checked for hemochromatosis, given family history.

Mine usually sank pretty fast, but not that fast! I worked at the blood bank for a while, too, and we had a few regulars who came in for a draw and toss. I'd never heard of it before then.